48 CENTENNIAL HISTORY
held under a large spreading oak which stood near the corner of George and College Streets. Mr. Davenport preached in the morning and Mr. Prudden in the afternoon. It was not until Feb. 23, 1639 that the Prudden party secured land from the Indians so that they could separate from the Davenport or New Haven party. With subsequent purchases the territory embraced what is now Milford and Orange, and much of Woodbridge, Derby, Bethany, Ansonia and Seymour. August 22, 1639, in a great barn of Robert Newman, which stood near the present corner of Temple and Grove Streets in New Haven, were organized two churches, those we know as the Center of New Haven, and the First of Milford. They were each on the same plan, having seven men chosen who were called "the seven pillars," by whose examination and vote all succeeding members were received. Milford's "seven pillars" were, Peter Prudden, William Fowler, Edward Zapp, Zachariah Whitman, John Astwood, Thomas Buckingham, and Thomas Welch. So, fair daughter of Orange, your mother was born in a barn. Yet, as mother says : Our glorious Lord Jesus Christ being born in a stable . . it was the more allowable that a church, which is the mystical body of that Lord, should thus be born in a barn. Immediately after the organization of the church most of the Prudden party removed to Wepewage, as Milford was first called, in honor of the river of that name. They were piloted thither by Thomas Tibbals, "he having been there a number of times before." They followed the devious Indian footpath, driving their cattle before them, while their household and farming utensils, and the material for the common house were taken round by water. They erected their common house on the west side of the harbor near the location of the present straw shop. There they held all their public meetings. And it was not until Nov. 24, 1640 that the settlers directed their officers "to set out a meeting house thirty feet square, after such manner as they should judge most convenient for the public good." Probably about three hundred persons were living in Milford at that time.